Taylor made art in Twickenham

3:12pm Thursday 21st February 2008

Most artists are lucky if they sell enough work to keep them in rolling tobacco and clean underpants. Not so Guildford-based painter Frank Taylor.

When Taylor licensed his painting, Cyclades, to Swedish shopping giant Ikea, the subsequent print sold more than 500,000 copies.

And while mass produced artwork comes in for a lot of stick - Jack Vettriano and Brian Sewell are hardly the best of friends - it sure pays the bills.

If you fancy getting your hands on a Taylor original, head to St Margarets and the Karen Taylor Gallery (no relation), where 40 of his paintings and a series of limited edition prints go on display this week.

Taylor's first London show for several years, Travel showcases the colours and themes that have made his work so popular on living room walls worldwide.

But does Taylor himself travel to paint or paint to travel?

"The travelling provides the inspiration for my work," he says. "Although I live in a beautiful place, I find it difficult to do paintings where I live. When you've been somewhere for a while, it becomes normal. See a place with fresh eyes though and everything - the landscape, the architecture, the people - seems more exciting."

Even his artistic process is a journey of sorts. As art critic Ian Courcoux puts it: "When he begins a painting Frank Taylor is unaware of its final form. The less he knows where the process will lead, the more interesting it becomes."

Taylor explains it this way: "Sometimes I work on the spot, but more often that not, I work from memory. My paintings aren't topographical depictions of actual places. I'm making it up as I go along. And as a result, some are successful and some are failures. It's a risky business."

Or sorts. But there is no doubt that Taylor's commercial success has given him a freedom not all artists enjoy. These days, it seems, Taylor's paintings travel as much as he does.

"They pop up in hotels and restaurants and other people's homes and on television," he says. "Someone even told me there is one in Conservative Central Office!

"The way you remember things is not like a photograph. But somehow my paintings seem to speak to a lot of people.

"A few years ago I travelled to Cappadocia in Central Turkey, which has these strange volcanic rock formations called fairy chimneys, and underground cities and churches dug into the rock.

"When I got back I did some paintings that combined the two. They were quite abstract but people who had been there told me they instantly recognised and remembered them."

Frank Taylor: Travel, Karen Taylor Contemporary Art Gallery, 18 Crown Road, St. Margaret's, Twickenham, call 020 8241 2020, visit karentaylorgallery.com.

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